A case management meeting has been set between court officials and Jordan Reinhold Dean Shields to determine if they can resolve his charges, including that of attempted murder.
Shields, 36, from Eyebrow, appeared in Moose Jaw provincial court by video from the Regina Correctional Centre on April 29. He is accused of allegedly assaulting Nathan Forbes with a weapon (a cane); allegedly assaulting Forbes with a dog; allegedly attempting to murder Forbes with a prohibited weapon (handgun); allegedly discharging the firearm at Forbes; and allegedly conducting a break and enter into a place with intent to commit an indictable (serious) offence, all from an incident on March 27 in Moose Jaw.
A case management meeting will help the court and Shields see whether there are common issues on which they agree, whether there are possible resolutions to the charges, whether they can set dates to address those issues, and whether Shields could enter pleas.
Shields appeared in provincial court on April 27, where court heard he had fired his Legal Aid lawyer — a free service — and would represent himself during any future bail hearing, preliminary trial, or trial.
Judge Brian Hendrickson told him that the Regina Legal Aid office would represent him, that the office would need two weeks to review his file, and that the allegations against him are serious. Shields said he understood, but would still represent himself.
Crown prosecutor Stephen Yusuff told Hendrickson that, since Shields wanted to do this, the Crown office wanted a court-appointed duty counsel assigned to the case. This would ensure that Shields couldn’t cross-examine the victims. Hendrickson agreed and adjourned the matter to April 29 so the Crown could look into that option.
Yusuff told Hendrickson on April 29 that the idea of having the court appoint another counsellor was made in haste. Instead, the Crown would prefer if Shields’ information — or disclosure — was sent to him on a USB stick. They could then set a bail hearing in a week.
Hendrickson again asked Shields if he wanted to represent himself and if he wanted to run a show-cause (bail) hearing; Shields said yes. He added that he wanted a paper copy of his disclosure since he had no computer in his cell and wanted to review his files privately.
Suzanne Jeanson, Moose Jaw Legal Aid Lawyer, informed the court that the remand centre did not allow paper-based disclosure, only digital information.
Hendrickson then explained to Shields what a bail hearing is and how it would run. He also noted that he could order a bail verification report, which would provide background information about Shields.
Shields asked if he could have a family friend help him review the disclosure, to which Yusuff replied unless the person was a lawyer, then no one else was allowed to review the disclosure since it was for Shields only to help with his potential bail hearing.
Yusuff then asked the judge to issue a Muirhead order, which would ensure only Shields saw the disclosure and that he could not share it with anyone else; Hendrickson agreed. The judge attempted to set a bail hearing, but Shields asked if they could skip that and go right to a preliminary hearing.
Hendrickson decided to set a case management meeting for May 15 instead, which would mean there would be no bail hearing or bail verification report produced. He then explained what a case management meeting was, before adjourning the matter.
